Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 21:45
And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
Mat 21:45-46
They feared the multitude, because they took Him for a prophet.
The adaptation of the gospel to the circumstances of the poor
The multitude were pleased with Christ and took Him for a prophet. The pleasure which our text indicates may be referred to wrong motives; they were glad to see others humbled and rebuked. We often repine at the superiority of those above us, and are gratified when any wound is inflicted on their vanity. Not that Christ desired by artful means to gain the favour of the inferior orders. Often in theological controversy men applaud not from love of the truth, but because some one has been repulsed. We take the supposition that the pleasure of the multitude, in part at least, was produced by the general tenor of Christs preaching, and not by a triumphant exposure of the sins of their rulers. Let us examine into the causes from which it came to pass that discourses which were distasteful to the great amongst the Jews found acceptance with the multitude. No doubt reasons could be derived from the peculiar circumstances of the Jewish nation; their expectation of a temporal prince, which was stronger in the higher classes than in the lower. Had the lower classes been left to themselves, it is probable that the Christ who healed their sick would have been accepted. But this is true of our own day-the multitudes, as distinguished from others, have an interest in hearing the gospel. It gains a hold on them which makes them take Christ for a prophet. Here it is that the Almighty has introduced one of those counterpoises which cause good and evil to be distributed with considerable equality notwithstanding the marked difference in human conditions. Wealth and learning are great advantages viewed in reference to the present life; but in regard to the other life the circumstances of their life facilitate their eternal good. The poor man has little to attach him to earth; the rich is surrounded by things that fascinate him, also there are prejudices against the gospel peculiar to the rich which the illiterate cannot share. The gospel sets the poor amongst princes; the rich and great cling to artificial distinctions. The poverty of Christ was an offence to the rich; it was an attraction to the poor. The gospel cannot reach the heart without supernatural power of the Holy Spirit; but if we take the doctrines of Christianity-the mediatorial work-imputation of righteousness-we might contend that the common people are in a better position than others to admit them. In the outcasts of society there is not found that haughty self-reliance; the gospel is more welcome to them. The Bible seems to have been composed with express reference to the poor. But we must not overlook the fact that those who took Christ for a prophet finally rejected and crucified Him. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 45. The chief priests – perceived that he spoke of them.] The most wholesome advice passes for an affront with those who have shut their hearts against the truth. When that which should lead to repentance only kindles the flame of malice and revenge, there is but little hope of the salvation of such persons.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark hath much the same, Mar 12:12; so hath Luke, Luk 20:19,20; but Luke adds, They watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. These wretched men were convinced in their own consciences, they perceived that he spake of them. They had nothing to oppose to what he said. They could not deny but that the psalmist, Psa 118:22, spake of the Messias. They could not but own that they were the builders, and that they had refused him. Yet their lusts and interests would not suffer then, to obey these convictions, to receive and to embrace Christ, and prevent that ruin which was coming upon them. They durst not apprehend Christ for fear of the people. They had nothing to lay to his charge; they therefore send out spies to watch him, to see if they could catch any thing from him in discourse, whereof to accuse him before Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea at this time.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
45. And when the chief priests andPharisees had heard his parablesreferring to that of the TwoSons and this one of the Wicked Husbandmen.
they perceived that he spakeof them.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when the chief priests and Pharisees,…. Which latter, though not before mentioned, were many of them of the grand sanhedrim, as well as the chief priests, scribes, and elders: “had heard his parables”; that of the two sons being sent into the vineyard, and that of the letting out the vineyard to husbandmen,
they perceived that he spake of them: they plainly saw that they were designed by the son, that promised to go into the vineyard, but did not; only talked of works, but did not do them: and that they were the husbandmen that acted the ungrateful part to the householder, and the cruel one to his servants, and would to his son, their own consciences told them they were the men. They knew that the whole was levelled against them, and designed for them, and exactly hit their case.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Perceived (). Ingressive second aorist active of . There was no mistaking the meaning of these parables. The dullest could see the point.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
45. They knew that he spoke of them. The Evangelists show how little success Christ had, that we may not wonder if the doctrine of the Gospel does not bring all men, in the present day, to yield obedience to God. Let us also learn that it is impossible but that the rage of ungodly men will be more and more inflamed by threatenings; for as God seals his word on our hearts, so also it is a hot iron to wound bad consciences, in consequence of which their ungodliness is the more inflamed. We ought therefore to pray that he would subdue us to voluntary fear, lest the mere knowledge of his vengeance should exasperate us the more. When they are restrained solely by the dread of the people from laying their hands on Christ, let us learn that God had laid a bridle on them; from which also arises a very delightful consolation to believers, when they learn that God protects them, and constantly enables them to escape from the jaws of death.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(45) They perceived that he spake of them.The real or affected unconsciousness of the drift of our Lords teaching was at last broken through. The last words had been too clear and pointed to leave any room for doubt, and they were roused to a passionate desire for revenge.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke of them.’
The chief priests and Pharisees, including the Scribes, recognised that His words were spoken against them, and that He was diminishing them in the eyes of the people, for all this was done openly. They were sworn enemies but they were being thrust together by a common cause. This man was dangerous. He had to be got rid of.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The result:
v. 45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they perceived that He spake of them
v. 46. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitude, because they took Him for a prophet. Their actual or assumed denseness finally had to give way to understanding, with the application made in such a blunt manner. But instead of turning from the wickedness of their ways, the bitterness of their hatred is only intensified. They would have taken Jesus away on the spot, had they not feared the people. An arrest at this time would have caused a riot, since the great multitudes gathered together in the courts of the Temple and throughout the city firmly held that He was a prophet, and would not have permitted harm to come upon Him.
Summary. Jesus makes a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, drives out the merchants and money-changers from the Temple, accepts the praise of the children, curses the fig-tree, upholds His authority, and tells the parables of the two sons and of the wicked husbandmen.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 21:45. They perceived that he spake of them One would think they could have been at no loss for the interpretation of the parable, considering how nearly it resembles that in Isa 5:1. &c. with which they were doubtless well acquainted: only it is to be observed, that there Israel is the vineyard; here the true religion is represented under that figure. Accordingly it is there threatened, that the vineyard should be destroyed; but here, that it should be let out to other husbandmen, each event suiting its connection. See Doddridge and Calmet.
Inferences on Christ’s Procession to the Temple.Never did our Saviour take so much state upon him as now that he was going to his passion. Other journies he measured on foot, without train or tumult; this with a princely equipage, and loud acclamations. O Saviour, whether shall we most admire thy majesty, or thy humility?that divine Majesty, which lay hid under so lowly an appearance, or that sincere humility, which veiled so great a glory? Thou, O Lord, whose chariots are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, wouldst choose one of the meanest of animals to carry thee in thy last, thy royal progress. How well is thy birth suited with thy triumphs! Even that very ass whereon thou didst ride, was the subject of prophesy; neither couldst thou have completed those vatical predictions without this conveyance. O glorious and yet homely pomp!
Jesus would not lose aught of his right. He who was a king, would be so proclaimed: but, that it might appear his kingdom was not of this world, he who could have demanded all worldly magnificence, thought fit to relinquish it. Instead of the kings of the earth, who, reigning by thee, thou King of kings, and Lord of lords, might have been employed among thine attendants;the people are thine heralds, their homely garments thy carpets, their green boughs the strewings of thy way. Those palms, which were wont to be borne in the hands of them who triumph, are strewed under the feet of thy beast; it was thy greatness and honour to contemn the glories which worldly hearts are apt so much to admire.
Justly did thy followers hold the best ornaments of the earth worthy of no better claim than to be trod upon by thee: how happily did they think their backs disrobed for thy honour! How gladly did they employ their breath in hosannahs to thee, the Son of David! Where now are the greatest masters of the synagogue, who had enacted the ejection of whosoever should confess Jesus to be the Christ? Lo here, bold and undaunted clients of the Messiah,who dare proclaim him in the public road, in the open streets! In vain shall the impotent enemies of Christ hope to suppress his glory: as soon may they hide with the palm of their hand the face of the sun, as withhold the beams of his divine truth from the eyes of men by their envious opposition. In spite of all the Jewish malignity, his kingdom is avowed, applauded, blessed.
O thou fairer than the children of men, in thy majesty ride on prosperously, because of truth, of meekness, and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things!
In this princely, yet poor and despicable pomp, does our Saviour enter into the famous city of JerusalemJerusalem noted of old for the seat of kings, priests, and prophets. Thither would Jesus come as a king, as a priest, as a prophet; acclaimed as a king; teaching the people, and foretelling the woeful devastation of the city, as a prophet; and as a priest, taking possession of his temple, and vindicating it from the foul profanations of Jewish sacrilege.
As all the world was bound to the Redeemer for his incarnation and residence on the earth, so especially Judea, to whose limits he confined himself. But those places and persons which have the greatest helps and privileges afforded to them, are not always the most answerable in the return of their thankfulness. Christ’s being amongst us does not make us happy, but his welcome: every day we may hear him in our streets, and yet be as much to seek concerning him as those citizens of Jerusalem,Who is this?
The attending disciples could not be at a loss for an answer; which of the prophets have not put it into their mouths:Who is this? Ask Moses, and he shall tell you; the seed of the woman, who shall bruise the serpent’s head. Ask your father Jacob, and he shall tell you,the Shiloh of the tribe of Judah. Ask David, and he shall tell you,the King of glory. Ask Isaiah, and he shall tell you,Emmanuel, wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace! Ask Jeremiah, and he shall tell you,the righteous Branch. Ask Daniel, he shall tell you,the Messiah. Ask John the Baptist, he shall tell you,the LAMB OF GOD.If you ask the God of the prophets, he hath told you,This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Yea, if all these be too good for you to consult with, the very devils themselves have been forced to confess, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. On no side has Christ left himself without a testimony; and, accordingly the multitude have their answer ready, This is JESUS, the prophet of Nazareth in Galilee.
With this humble pomp and just acclamation, O Saviour, dost thou pass through the streets of Jerusalem to the temple, as a good son, when he comes from far, alights first at his father’s house. Neither would he think it otherwise than preposterous to visit strangers before hisfriends, or friends before his father. Besides, the temple had more need of thy presence; there was the most disorder, and thence, as from a corrupt spring, it issued forth into all the channels of Jerusalem. A wise physician inquires into the state of the chief and vital parts; surely all good or evil begins at the temple. If God have his due there; if men find there nothing but wholesome instruction and holy example, the commonwealth cannot want some happy tincture of piety, devotion, sanctimony,as that fragrant perfume from Aaron’s head sweetens the utmost skirts of his garments. On the contrary, the distempers of the temple cannot but affect the whole body of the people. As therefore the good husbandman, when he sees the leaves grow yellow, and thebranches unthriving, looks presently to the roots, so didst thou, O holy Saviour, upon sight of the disorder spread over Jerusalem, address thyself to the rectifying of the temple.
No sooner is Christ alighted at the gate of the outer court of his Father’s house, than he sets about the great work of reformation, which was his errand into the world. With what fear and astonishment did the repining offenders look upon to unexpected a character; while their conscience lashed them more than those cords, and the terror of that meek chastiser more affrighted them than his blows? Is this that mild and gentle Saviour, who came to take upon him our stripes, and to undergo the chastisement of our peace? Is this that quiet lamb, which before his shearers openeth not his mouth? See now how his radiant eyes sparkle with holy anger, and dart forth beams of indignation in the faces of these guilty money-changers! Yea thus, thus it became thee, O thou glorious Redeemer of men, to let the world see that thou hast not lost thy justice in thy mercy; that there is not more lenity in thyforbearances, than rigour in thy just severity; that thou canst thunder as well as shine.
But whydid not the priests and Levites, to whom the gain principally belonged, abet the money-changers, and make head against so apparently weak an agent? Why did not those multitudes of men stand upon their defence, and wrest the scourge out of the hand of an almost unarmed prophet,instead of running away like sheep before him, not daring to abide his presence, though his hand had been still?Surely had these men been so many armies, so many legions of devils, when God will astonish and chase them, they cannot have the power to stand and resist! How easy is it for him who made the heart, to put either terror or courage into it at pleasure! It was none of thy least miracles, Almighty Saviour, that thou didst thus drive out a multitude of ableoffenders in spite of their gains and resentful resolutions. The profit had no power to stay them against thy frowns.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Being about to offer himself as the true paschal Lamb, our blessed Lord determined to make his triumphant entry first into Jerusalem, as a prelude to those more exalted honours, to which, on his resurrection from the dead, he should be advanced. We are told on his approaching the suburbs, where he halted,
1. The preparations that he ordered to be made. We find no heralds sent to clear the way; no guards surround his glittering car; no music fills the air with harmony; no officers of state with gorgeous robes attend their mighty Sovereign. The lowly Jesus despised this worldly pomp; it fitted not his state of humiliation; and therefore, though he could in an instant have commanded down cherubic legions to attend his steps, and made the clouds his chariots, he chose his poor disciples to be with him; and, seated on an ass’s colt, and not even that his own, determines thus to make his public entry. Yet even here he takes occasion to display his divine omniscience, and his influence over the spirits of men; sending his disciples to the village over against them, directing them where to find the ass tied with her foal; and assuring them, that if any man offered to question them for loosing the ass and the colt, it would be sufficient to say their Master wanted them, and he would immediately let them go.
2. The fulfilment of the Scripture herein is particularly remarked. Long before had the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah predicted this event; Tell ye the daughter of Zion glad tidings of great joy: Behold, admire and adore him, thy King, the long-expected Messiah, cometh unto thee, bringing salvation; meek as a lamb, to bear every indignity for Zion’s sake, and gentle to rule with a sceptre of love in the hearts of his believing people; sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass; like one of the ancient judges of Israel, and in such humility as was best suited to that character which he bore. Note; Christ is Zion’s king: his happy subjects may well rejoice in his power and love; but let his enemies tremble; though he comes now like a lamb, he will shortly roar against them as a lion.
3. The disciples having obeyed their Master’s orders, and brought the ass with her colt, they spread their garments on them, and seated him thereon; and, with every expression of exultation and joy, which this poor, and, to human view, despicable multitude could shew, they ushered him into the city, spreading their garments instead of carpets on the ground, or hanging them by the wayside; cutting down boughs of trees, and strewing them by the road; and carrying palm-branches in their hands, (Joh 12:13.) as in the feast of tabernacles; and uttering with loud hosannahs their triumphant songs of praise; welcoming their adored Messiah, the Son of David, who came with divine authority from on high; wishing him all prosperity, honour, happiness, and glory; praying for the appearing of his kingdom, and that his throne might he exalted over all; and calling on the heavenly hosts to join in their blessings, praise, and adoration. Note; (1,) The coming of Jesus into the sinner’s heart is still matter of greater exultation, and deserves louder shouts of praise. (2.) They who have tasted the preciousness of a Redeemer’s grace in their own souls, cannot but long to see his kingdom established in the hearts of others; and fervently pray for its more abundant manifestation in the world.
4. Such an uncommon scene excited great emotion in the inhabitants of Jerusalem, according as they were differently affected with wonder, envy, contempt, or exultation; and the general inquiry was, Who is this; that comes with such a train and such exclamations? To which the multitude replied, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee, whose doctrines and miracles have rendered him so famed, and confirmed his divine mission. Note; (1.) Christ is often little known, where the greatest profession of his religion is made. (2.) The poor despised multitude in general judge more rightly concerning Jesus, his character, and Gospel, than the wise and noble, who often affect to despise them.
2nd, The Son of God, the King in Zion, regards his temple as his palace, and thitherward directs his steps.
1. He purges it of intruders, the buyers and sellers, who in the courts carried on their traffic; exchanging bills to purchase sheep and doves for sacrifice, or money to pay the annual half shekel; and, under pretence that this was in order to assist the temple-service, the priests, through avarice, connived at it, enriching themselves by the extortion practised on these occasions. But the Lord overthrew their stalls, and drove them out before him, confounded and unable to bear his frowns, or resist his arm; vindicating his conduct and condemning their wickedness by a quotation from Isa 56:7 and Jer 7:11 saying, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer, to which men should resort, and where God had promised to hear their supplications; but ye have made it a den of thieves, perverting it to the vilest purposes, dishonouring God, and plundering the people. Note; (1.) The vilest corruptions have been introduced into the church by those who, making advantage the end of their profession, counterfeit godliness in order to make gain. (2.) The eyes of Christ’s peculiar jealousy are upon his church, and nothing can more offend the blessed Head of it, than to behold an avaricious spirit in those, who, by their very calling, profess themselves crucified to the world.
2. When he had ejected the intruders, he sat as a king upon his throne to dispense his royal favours, healing the blind and lame who came to him in the temple: and thither the spiritually blind and lame are invited still to come to him; and by his word and Spirit he continues to manifest there his healing power and grace.
3. He rebukes the envy of the chief priests and scribes. They could not bear to see such incontestable miracles wrought by him; and when the very children, struck with the works of Jesus, joined their feeble voices to the acclamations of the multitude, and cried, Hosannah to the Son of David, they were stung with malignant envy, and intimated to Jesus, that to hear without silencing such silly little creatures, proved him weak, vain, and ostentatious. But Jesus vindicates these infant praises which he heard; he approved their lispings; and, had these cavillers known the Scriptures, they might have herein observed their fulfilment, where it was written, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength. Psa 8:2. God’s strength was now made perfect in their weakness; and the Messiah’s praise was advanced by these feeble instruments, to the confusion and condemnation of those who rejected and denied him. Note; (1.) Greatness and goodness are ever the objects of envy; and the proud cannot bear to hear the tribute of commendation paid to superior excellence. (2.) It is happy when children learn betimes to lisp the Redeemer’s praises. Though education cannot bestow grace, yet example and instruction in the way of godliness are means that we may humbly hope God will effectually bless. (3.) The prayers and services of little children are pleasing to the adorable Saviour, and he will graciously accept their feeble efforts to express their gratitude.
4. Leaving them to reflect on what had passed, he departed to Bethany, where he lodged, about two miles from Jerusalem; thus for a while withdrawing himself from their malice and fury, and depriving them of the blessing of his presence which they had so justly forfeited.
3rdly, In the morning early Jesus returned to Jerusalem, and, having probably come out fasting, he was hungry; being, as man, subject to all our sinless infirmities. Seeing a fig-tree remarkably flourishing, he came up to it; and, finding no fruit upon it, he denounced a curse upon it for its barrenness; and the tree immediately began to wither. And herein Christ seems to have particularly in his view the Jewish people, of whom this fig-tree was a lively emblem. They were, in their profession of religion, zealous and plausible, but barren of all true fruits of righteousness, and therefore were now given up to the curse, to be destroyed without remedy. See the Critical Notes. Note; (1.) Christ requires of his disciples not merely leaves of profession, but the fruit of grace; though too many deceive his expectations, and rest in the form, while they continue strangers to the power of godliness. (2.) The curse will light upon the barren trees: often in this world the hypocrite’s hope perisheth; they discover their insincerity, and wither in the eyes of man; but at farthest, the day of recompense will blast their confidences.
The disciples in the next morning passing with their Master the same way, Mar 11:20 observed with wonder how soon the fig-tree was withered away which Jesus had cursed the preceding day: and so terrible are his comminations, and so sure to light down upon the impenitent sinner’s head. In answer to which observation, Jesus replied, that this was little, compared with the power with which they should be endued, if they exercised unshaken and unwavering faith in God; not hesitating or reasoning how the miracle could be performed, but trusting God’s power and promises: in which case they would be enabled, not merely to dry up a fig-tree with a word, but to say to this mountain, on which they now stood, be thou removed, and cast into the sea, and it shall be done. Such astonishing miracles should they be enabled to work; and whatever other thing they should find needful in the execution of their ministry, for the honour of God and the furtherance of his Gospel, they need only ask it in prayer, nothing doubting, and it should assuredly be granted them. Note; The prayer of faith is sure to prevail; to this God denies nothing. If ever we be unhappy, to this source it may be traced, to the distrust of his promises, his power, or his love.
4thly, We have,
1. The insolent demand made upon our Lord, and the interruption given him in his blessed work, by the chief priests and elders; who, unable any longer to contain themselves, and, filled with indignation at what they had seen and heard the preceding day, insisted upon his producing authority for what he did, and shewing the commission under which he acted; presuming that his answer would infallibly lay him open to some accusation, which they had so long wished to find against him. Note; When we are faithfully labouring for Christ, we need not wonder, if Satan and his instruments labour to interrupt us.
2. Christ answers their demand by another. He knew how to confound them, while they thought to silence him; and is ready out of their own mouths to condemn them. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? Was he commissioned from heaven, or went he forth at his own will, or under merely human authority? The question was short, but the dilemma to which it reduced them was inextricable. They plainly saw, if they should say, that John acted under a divine commission, then Christ would have an immediate proof of his own, and they would be inexcusable for not receiving him as the Messiah, to whom John bore witness. On the other hand, their own honour, lives, and safety, were at stake, the people being fully persuaded of John’s prophetic character; which should they deny, they justly apprehended lest they should be stoned like blasphemers; and therefore, contrary to their own convictions, they chose to confess ignorance, and tell a lie, rather than own the divine mission of the messenger, which would in its consequence involve the divine authority of Jesus. But if they thus wilfully chose to appear ignorant in one case, our Lord was fully vindicated in refusing to give them farther satisfaction about himself, seeing it was in vain to talk with those who had first resolved not to be convinced. Note; (1.) Worldly minds are unspeakably more influenced by the fear of men, than by the fear of God. (2.) Many are more afraid of shame than sin, and therefore hesitate not at a lie concerning their thoughts and apprehensions, their affections and intentions, their remembering or forgetting things, &c. because they flatter themselves that no one can disprove them: but there is a Searcher of hearts, from whom no secrets are hid. (3.) If men wilfully shut their eyes against the truth, it is in vain to reason with them any farther.
5thly, Having silenced their cavils, he makes an attack upon their conscience, in a parable, with an application to them.
1. We have the parable itself. A certain man had two sons, whom he sent into his vineyard to work: the one appeared at first refractory, undutiful, and refused to obey his father’s commands; but afterwards, reflecting on his ill conduct, he was sorry, repented, and went to his work: the other no sooner was bid to go, than with profound respect he promised immediate obedience, but never went. The question which did his father’s will was too evident to admit of hesitation, and they allow the penitent to be the dutiful son. Note; (1.) God is our Father; he commands his children to serve and glorify him: by our relation to him obedience is our duty, and should be our delight. The day of life is the day of labour, and should therefore be diligently improved by us. But, (2.) Such is our vile nature, that we are rebellious children, refuse to hearken, yea, dare to say, We will not serve him, but our own lusts and pleasures, and insolently turn from him, every one in his own way. (3.) Whenever through divine grace we repent and return, God in Christ is graciously pleased to receive us, and to forgive our wickedness and insolence: again he permits us to be employed in his service, and restores us to his regard. (4.) While some prove better than they promise, others prove the very contrary; make fair professions of love to Christ and his service, but never go farther; Christians in word and in tongue, but not in deed and in truth.
2. Christ applies the parable to those who were before him; the primary scope of which is to shew, that publicans and harlots, repenting, would enter the kingdom sooner than they: and probably he has an eye to the Gentiles, who would repent and be converted by the Gospel, when the Jewish nation, for their impenitence and unbelief, would be rejected. And this had evidently appeared in the effects of John’s ministry, who came in the way of righteousness; his life remarkably exemplary, his doctrine directly tending to lead men to repentance, and faith in the Messiah; whereby he proved his mission from God: but notwithstanding ye believed him not: though you pretend such respect for God, as the second son did for his father, you did not receive John’s testimony, nor believe the doctrines that he preached; but the publicans and harlots believed him, were convinced of their guilt and danger, received his testimony concerning Jesus, repented and were baptized: and, notwithstanding these remarkable fruits of his ministry, which served to evince the divine power and authority which accompanied his word, Ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him, but continued obstinately hardened against every method of conviction. Note; (1.) The success of our ministry is one of the best testimonials of our mission from God. (2.) Formal professors are wrought upon with much more difficulty, and seldomer converted, than careless sinners. Strictness in the ceremonials of religion, and the pride of duties, when trusted upon for righteousness, are among the strongest holds of Satan in the human heart. (3.) Where-ever the Gospel comes in power, converting publicans and harlots, there will it leave those inexcusable who, beholding its efficacy on others, still contradict, and blaspheme, and reject the counsel of God against their own souls.
6thly, Another parable, nearly of the same import as the former, is delivered. We have,
1. The privileges which the Jewish church had long enjoyed, represented by a vineyard let out to husbandmen. They had been planted in a pleasant land, fenced round by God’s peculiar care, blessed with the means of grace; in the midst of them he had set up his altar, manifested his presence, deposited his lively oracles, instituted divine ordinances, and appointed a holy ministry: nothing which could conduce to their fruitfulness or defence was wanting: and therefore, having settled their constitution at Sinai, or at the dedication of the temple, retiring between the cherubim, he committed to the chief priests and elders the care of his church, for the edification of which they were required, as husbandmen in a vineyard, to labour. Note; (1.) Christ’s church is his vineyard, and under his especial care. (2.) Ministers in the church must labour in the word and doctrine: a life of ease, indolence, and self-gratification, is inconsistent with his sacred employment.
2. Enjoying such means and mercies, God justly expected that their profiting should appear; and sent accordingly his prophets to remind them of their obligations, and stir them up and direct them to the discharge of them, that they might, in the fruits of grace find righteousness, render that tribute to God which was so much his due.
3. The baseness and cruelty of the husbandmen to these divine messengers was astonishing. They abused, insulted, and persecuted the prophets, and even went so far as to imbrue their hands in their blood, Jer 20:2. Neh 9:26. 2Ch 24:21 and when the Lord, in his patience and pity, sent others in succession, to see if at last some change might be wrought, the rising generation repeated all the wickedness of their forefathers. Note; (1.) It has been the lot of all God’s faithful ministers from the beginning to suffer persecution; and none have been deeper in this transgression than those, who by office and profession filled the most distinguished places in his church. (2.) God’s patience with sinners is astonishing. Though provoked and insulted in the person of his ambassadors, he still sends them with proffers of peace and pardon.
4. When, in infinite condescension and love, God sent to them his Son, to whom they might well be expected to pay reverence and attention; and from whose ministry and miracles at least, if they rejected others, some blessed change might have been hoped for; so far were they from receiving and submitting to him, that, to fill up the measure of their iniquities, they immediately began to plot against him; and what these husbandmen had done, they were now about to repeat, to cast him out and slay him; as if, when they had crucified him without the walls of Jerusalem, they might then lord it without controul in the church, and, by the murder of the heir, seize the inheritance without opposition.
5. Christ appeals to them for what they thought must be the consequence, when the Lord of the vineyard came; for come he surely will, to reckon with the persecutors of his prophets and the murderers of his Son. And they, not yet understanding the meaning couched under these parabolic expressions, readily replied, no doubt the case of these wicked husbandmen will be terrible; they have nothing to expect but condign punishment for their crimes, and that the vineyard should be committed to more trusty servantsthus unknowingly pronouncing their own doom, and justifying God’s procedure in rejecting them, and in calling the Gentiles into his church, who would render him more abundant honour, love, and service. Note; (1.) Even those who perish shall be made to confess God’s righteousness, and shall out of their own mouths be condemned. (2.) The end of all the ungodly, and of the persecutors of Christ and his people, is, to be miserably destroyed under the consuming wrath of an offended God.
6. When, on our Lord’s intimating how much they were concerned in this parable, they had testified their abhorrence of the thought he suggested of murdering God’s Son, Luk 20:16-19 he assures them this would be the case, and they had, no doubt, often read the Scripture which foretold it, Psa 118:22. The stone was himself, the rock on which his church should be built up; the builders were the chief priests and elders, who rejected him, and refused to own him as the Messiah; yet, notwithstanding their malice and infidelity, he must become the head-stone of the corner, exalted to be the head of all principalities and powers, and of his church in particular, both of Jews and Gentiles united in one glorious body. And this is the Lord’s doing, who permitted and overruled their wickedness for good, and would, at the resurrection and ascension of Christ, thus advance his only-begotten Son, and give him a name above every name: and it is marvellous in our eyes; the obduracy of the Jews, the calling of the Gentiles, the rejection of the Messiah and his exaltation, are all marvellously ordered to advance the divine glory, to pour confusion on the enemies of the Redeemer, and to secure the salvation of his faithful people.
7. Christ, particularly addressing himself to the chief priests, elders, and people before him, makes a direct application of all that he had spoken to their case. The Gospel which they had rejected should shortly be taken from them, and they should be abandoned of God, because of their infidelity and impenitence; while this word of salvation should be sent to the Gentiles, who would thankfully embrace it, be admitted into the Messiah’s kingdom, and approve themselves faithful subjects of it in all holy conversation and godliness. Whosoever therefore among them, offended at the humiliation of Jesus, through wilful ignorance or prejudice rejected him as the Messiah, shall be broken, as a man that stumbles against a stone: but whosoever, in his state of exaltation, obstinately persist in their malice against him, shall be crushed in pieces by him as under the fall of a mighty rock. Note; They who will not bow to the sceptre of the Redeemer’s grace, must miserably perish under the iron rod of his judgments.
Lastly, The chief priests and Pharisees could not mistake his meaning: they plainly perceived the design of his parables and discourse, and saw them expressly levelled against themselves, out of their own mouths drawing their condemnation, and confirming the sentence of wrath against them; but so hardened were they, that, instead of instantly humbling their souls that they might avert the threatened vengeance, they were so enraged that they would instantly have laid violent hands upon him, and probably have murdered him on the spot; but the fear of the people restrained them, who, taking Jesus for a prophet, would at present have interposed for his rescue: they were therefore constrained to defer their revenge to a more convenient season. Note; (1.) The word of God is powerful and penetrating, and conscience will make the application, Thou art the man. (2.) They who are not corrected by reproof, must be exasperated thereby. (3.) It is a mercy that God has many ways of restraining men’s wickedness, though they have cast off his fear: he can bind them with human fetters; when they refuse to be governed by his divine law.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 21:45 f. It was the hint contained in this concluding remark that led Jesus at once to follow up what had been already said with another parabolic address directed against His enemies.
. .] identical with the . . of Mat 21:23 , so that, in the present instance, the latter are designated by the name of the party to which they belonged.
] what had now become clear to them from what was said, Mat 21:42-44 . The confident manner in which they express themselves in Mat 21:41 bears up to that point no trace of such knowledge, otherwise we should have to suppose that they consciously pronounced their own condemnation.
(see critical remarks) : held Him as a prophet, i.e. in Him they felt they possessed a prophet; on , which is met with in later writers in the sense of the predicate, see Bernhardy, p. 219.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
Ver. 45. They perceived that he spake of them ] Who told them so, but their own guilty consciences? Every man hath a domestic chaplain within his own bosom, that preacheth over the sermon to him again, and comes over him with, “Thou art the man.” Conscience is said to accuse or excuse in the mean while, , Rom 2:15 . In the interim between sermon and sermon, conviction and conviction. So that personal and nominal application is therefore needless, because every man hath a discursive faculty within him, applying several truths to every man’s particular uses. And, ubi generalis de vitiis disputatio est, ibi nullius personae est iniuria, saith Jerome: Where the discourse against vice is general, no man can justly complain of a personal injury. By preaching, Christ many times smites the earth, Isa 11:4 , that is, the consciences of carnal men glued to the earth. God’s words hit them full in the teeth, and make them spit blood. Now if they rage, as tigers, tear themselves at the noise of a drum, if they fly in the faces of their teachers, and seek revenge upon them, they are commonly cast into a reprobate sense, and seldom escape the visible vengeance of God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
45, 46. ] All three Evangelists have this addition. St. Mark besides says , answering to our ch. Mat 22:22 . Supposing Mark’s insertion of these words to be in the right place, we have the following parable spoken to the people and disciples : see below.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 21:45 . he priests and Pharisees of course perceived the drift of these parabolic speeches about the two sons, the vine-dressers, and the rejected stone, and (Mat 21:46 ) would have apprehended Him on the spot (Luk 20:19 ) had they not feared the people. , since, introducing the reason of the fear, same as in Mat 21:26 . = ., Mat 21:26 , and in Mat 14:5 , also in reference to John. On this use of vide Winer, 32, 4, b.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Matthew
THE VINEYARD AND ITS KEEPERS
Mat 21:33 – Mat 21:46
This parable was apparently spoken on the Tuesday of the Passion Week. It was a day of hand-to-hand conflict with the Jewish authorities and of exhausting toil, as the bare enumeration of its incidents shows. It included all that Matthew records between Mat 21:20 of this chapter and the end of the twenty-fifth chapter-the answer to the deputation from the Sanhedrin; the three parables occasioned by it, namely, those of the two sons, this one, and that of the marriage of the king’s son; the three answers to the traps of the Pharisees and Herodians about the tribute, of the Sadducees about the resurrection, and of the ruler about the chief commandment; Christ’s question to His questioners about the Son and Lord of David; the stern woes hurled at the unmasked hypocrites; to which must be added, from other gospels, the sweet eulogium on the widow’s mite, and the deep saying to the Greeks about the corn of wheat, with, possibly, the incident of the woman taken in adultery; and then, following all these, the solemn prophecies of the end contained in Mat 24:1 – Mat 24:51 and Mat 25:1 – Mat 25:46 , spoken on the way to Bethany, as the evening shadows were falling. What a day! What a fountain of wisdom and love which poured out such streams! The pungent severity of this parable, with its transparent veil of narrative, is only appreciated by keeping clearly in view the circumstances and the listeners. They had struck at Jesus with their question as to His authority, and He parries the blow. Now it is His turn, and the sharp point goes home.
I. The first stage is the preparation of the vineyard, in which three steps are marked.
‘Guv’ment ain’t to answer for it,
God will send the bill to you.’
Having installed the husbandmen, the owner goes into another country. The cluster of miracles which inaugurate an epoch of revelation are not continued beyond its beginning. Centuries of comparative divine silence followed the planting of the vineyard. Having given us our charge, God, as it were, steps aside to leave us room to work as we will, and so to display what we are made of. He is absent in so far as conspicuous oversight and retribution are concerned. He is present to help, love, and bless. The faithful husbandman has Him always near, a joy and a strength, else no fruit would grow; but the sin and misery of the unfaithful are that they think of Him as far off.
II. Then comes the habitual ill-treatment of the messengers.
The hostility of the husbandmen grows with indulgence. From beating they go on to killing, and stoning is a specially savage form of killing. The opposition which began, as the former parable tells us, with polite hypocrisy and lip obedience, changed, under the stimulus of prophetic appeals, to honest refusal, and from that to violence which did not hesitate to slay. The more God pleads with men, the more self-conscious and bitter becomes their hatred; and the more bitter their hatred, the more does He plead, sending other messengers, more perhaps in number, or possibly of more weight, with larger commission and clearer light. Thus both the antagonistic forces grow, and the worse men become, the louder and more beseeching is the call of God to them. That is always true; and it is also ever true that he who begins with ‘I go, sir, and goes not, is in a fair way to end with stoning the prophets.
Christ treats the whole long series of violent rejections as the acts of the same set of husbandmen. The class or nation was one, as a stream is one, though all its particles are different; and the Pharisees and scribes, who stood with frowning hatred before Him as He spoke, were the living embodiment of the spirit which had animated all the past. In so far as they inherited their taint, and repeated their conduct, the guilt of all the former generations was laid at their door. They declared themselves their predecessors’ heirs; and as they reproduced their actions, they would have to bear the accumulated weight of the consequences.
III. Mat 21:37 – Mat 21:39 tell of the mission of the Son and of its fatal issue.
The next point marked is the owner’s vain hope, in sending his Son. He thought that He would be welcomed, and He was disappointed. It was His last attempt. Christ knew Himself to be God’s last appeal, as He is to all men, as well as to that generation. He is the last arrow in God’s quiver. When it has shot that bolt, the resources even of divine love are exhausted, and no more can be done for the vineyard than He has done for it. We need not wonder at unfulfilled hopes being here ascribed to God. The startling thought only puts into language the great mystery which besets all His pleadings with men, which are carried on, though they often fail, and which must, therefore, in view of His foreknowledge, be regarded as carried on with the knowledge that they will fail. That is the long-suffering patience of God. The difficulty is common to the words of the parable and to the facts of God’s unwearied pleading with impenitent men. Its surface is a difficulty, its heart is an abyss of all-hoping charity.
The last point is the vain calculation of the husbandmen. Christ puts hidden motives into plain words, and reveals to these rulers what they scarcely knew of their own hearts. Did they, in their secret conclaves, look each other in the face, and confess that He was the Heir? Did He not Himself ground His prayer for their pardon on their ignorance? But their ignorance was not entire, else they had had no sin; neither was their knowledge complete, else they had had no pardon. Beneath many an obstinate denial of Him lies a secret confession, or misgiving, which more truly speaks the man than does the loud negation. And such strange contradictions are men, that the secret conviction is often the very thing which gives bitterness and eagerness to the hostility. So it was with some of those whose hidden suspicions are here set in the light. How was the rulers’ or the people’s wish to ‘seize on His inheritance’ their motive for killing Jesus? Their great sin was their desire to have their national prerogatives, and yet to give no true obedience. The ruling class clung to their privileges and forgot their responsibilities, while the people were proud of their standing as Jews, and careless of God’s service. Neither wished to be reminded of their debt to the Lord of the vineyard, and their hostility to Jesus was mainly because He would call on them for fruits. If they could get this unwelcome and persistent voice silenced, they could go on in the comfortable old fashion of lip-service and real selfishness. It is an account, in vividly parabolic language, not only of their hostility, but of that of many men who are against Him. They wish to possess life and its good, without being for ever pestered with reminders of the terms on which they hold it, and of God’s desire for their love and obedience. They have a secret feeling that Christ has the right to ask for their hearts, and so they often turn from Him angrily, and sometimes hate Him.
With what sad calmness does Jesus tell the fate of the son, so certain that it is already as good as done! It was done in their counsels, and yet He does not cease to plead, if perchance some hearts may be touched and withdraw themselves from the confederacy of murder.
IV. We have next the self-condemnation from unwilling lips.
V. Then come the solemn application and naked truth of the parable.
Christ confirms the sentence just spoken by the rulers on themselves, but with the inversion of its clauses. All disguise is at an end. The fatal ‘you’ is pronounced. The husbandmen’s calculation had been that killing the heir would make them lords of the vineyard; the grim fact was that they cast themselves out when they cast him out. He is the heir. If we desire the inheritance, we must get it through Him, and not kill or reject, but trust and obey Him. The sentence declares the two truths, that possession of the vineyard depends on honouring the Son, and on bringing forth the fruits. The kingdom has been taken from the churches of Asia Minor, Africa, and Syria, because they bore no fruit. It is not held by us on other conditions. Who can venture to speak of the awful doom set forth in the last words here? It has two stages: one a lesser misery, which is the lot of him who stumbles against the stone, while it lies passive to be built on; one more dreadful, when it has acquired motion and comes down with irresistible impetus. To stumble at Christ, or to refuse His grace, and not to base our lives and hopes on Him is maiming and damage, in many ways, here and now. But suppose the stone endowed with motion, what can stand against it? And suppose that the Christ, who is now offered for the rock on which we may pile our hopes and never be confounded, comes to judge, will He not crush the mightiest opponent as the dust of the summer threshing-floor?
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 21:45-46
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.
Mat 21:45 “when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them” The religious leaders of Jesus’ day recognized completely what Jesus was saying. What terrible irony! The disciples did not understand, but the Sadducees and Pharisees did!
Mat 21:46 “prophet” See Special Topic at Mat 11:9.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
perceived = got to know. Greek. ginosko. App-132.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
45, 46.] All three Evangelists have this addition. St. Mark besides says , answering to our ch. Mat 22:22. Supposing Marks insertion of these words to be in the right place, we have the following parable spoken to the people and disciples: see below.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 21:45.[950] , He is speaking) They perceived that Jesus had not yet concluded what He had to say. See ch. Mat 22:1.
[950] ) as being the husbandmen and the builders.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
The King’s Enemies Plot against Him
Mat 21:45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
They had tried to turn aside the point of his parables; but they had tried in vain: the likenesses were striking, the parallels were perfect, they could not help knowing that he spake of them. Such parables; so true, so cutting, so pertinent, how could they escape them, or endure them?
Mat 21:46. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
Since they could not answer him, they would apprehend him. Happily, the multitude thought too well of Jesus to allow of their laying hands on him, though they sought to do so. These groat religionists were as cowardly as they were cruel: they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
They dared not tell the truth concerning John because they feared the people, and that fear restrained their anger against John’s Lord. It was arranged, in the order of providence, that ecclesiastical malice should be held in check by popular feeling. This was an instance of the way in which full often the earth has helped the woman (Rev 12:16), and the will of the masses has screened the servants of God from priestly cruelty. He who rules all things sets in motion a high order of politics in the affairs of men in reference to his church. At times, princes have saved men of God from priestly rancour, and anon the multitude has preserved them from aristocratic hate. One way or another, Jehovah knows how to preserve his Son, and all those who are with him, until the hour comes when by their deaths they can glorify his name, and enter into glory themselves.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom
they: Mat 12:12, Luk 11:45, Luk 20:19
Reciprocal: Mat 26:3 – assembled Mar 11:18 – and Mar 12:12 – feared Luk 6:11 – communed Luk 22:2 – General Luk 22:53 – I was
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:45
The Jewish nation as a whole was to suffer in the fate predicted by the parable, but the chief priests and Pharisees were especially responsible which truth they realized when they heard the parable.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 21:45-46. They now perceived, if not before, that the parable referred to them; their determination to kill Him became fixed (see Mar 12:12; Luk 20:19). Avoiding open violence because the multitude held him for a prophet, they welcomed treachery and at last carried the multitude with them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
When the chief priests came to understand that these parable were all applied to them, that they were the murderers of the king’s son, that they were the builders that rejected the chief corner-stone, they are enraged at the close application made to themselves; and had not fear restrained them, they would have laid violent hands upon him.
Learn thence, That nothing doth more provoke and exasperate unsound hypocrites, than the particular application, and close coming home of the word of God unto their hearts and consciences. So long as the truths of God are generally delivered, sinners are easy looking upon themselves as unconcerned: but when the word of God comes close to them, and says, Thou art the man, this is thy wickedness; they are angry at the message, and rage at the messenger.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The meaning of Jesus’ words was clear to Israel’s leaders who heard Him. Matthew probably described them as chief priests, who were mostly Sadducees, and Pharisees because these were the two leading parties within Judaism. Together these two groups stood for all the Jewish authorities who opposed Jesus.
Rather than fearing Jesus, whom they understood claimed to be the instrument of their final judgment, these leaders feared the multitudes whose power over them was much less. Rather than submitting to Him in belief, they tried to seize Him. Thus they triggered the very situation that Jesus had warned them about, namely, His death at their hands. Their actions confirmed their rejection of Jesus and their consequent blindness.